Art Director/Designer, Fashion &Apparel, AI-Enabled Content Prod

About SJC

SJC stands as Canada’s largest privately owned communications company, distinguished by its portfolio of leading media brands, including Toronto Life, Chatelaine, and Maclean’s. A dynamic and influential organization within the industry, SJC excels in the creation, publication, and production of best-in-class content through its comprehensive content and creative studios, advanced advertising technology, and state-of-the-art print facilities. We collaborate with clients across North America to deliver innovative marketing solutions that effectively inform, inspire, and empower audiences across all platforms. With significant reach and influence, SJC has proudly been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for 22 consecutive years, a testament to our commitment to excellence. To learn more about our organization, please visit www.stjoseph.com

From its full-service multi-studio facility, SJC Content works with leading brands and retailers to create content for every channel, including photography, video, social animation, interactive e-commerce content and digital signage. The Mar-Comm Project Manager drives the planning and execution of seasonal and other strategic marketing campaigns, leading collaboration on these projects both cross-functionally and with a network of vendor partner marketing agencies.

Role Overview

SJC is seeking an Intermediate Art Director / Designer with strong fashion and apparel retail experience to support high-volume eCommerce content production for a major retail program on a 3-5 month initial contract. The role will help translate brand, category, and product requirements into clear shot direction, visual standards, layout guidance, and production-ready creative decisions across on-figure, off-figure, colourway, licensed, accessory, and bundle imagery. The ideal candidate is highly visual, organized, commercially minded, and comfortable working in a fast-moving production environment where AI-assisted tools support efficiency but human judgement controls final creative quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain visual direction for apparel content across on-figure, off-figure, kids, footwear, accessories, licensed products, and bundles.
• Partner with photographers, stylists, retouchers, producers, and PMs to define shot requirements, cropping, styling direction, model/product considerations, and image hierarchy.
• Review supplier, Walmart, and internal creative inputs to identify missing information, product differences, colourway issues, or visual risks before production begins.
• Support consistent application of Walmart content standards, SJC production guidelines, and category-specific eCommerce image requirements.
• Create or adapt visual guides, shot references, production notes, simple layout assets, infographics, and dimension/accessory chart direction as required.
• Review image outputs for styling, composition, colour, product accuracy, brand fit, and eCommerce clarity prior to final QA or upload preparation.
• Help improve repeatable apparel workflows by identifying opportunities for templates, reusable visual rules, and AI-assisted creative efficiencies.

Required Experience and Skills

• 3-6+ years of art direction, design, or visual production experience, preferably in fashion, apparel, retail, catalogue, eCommerce, or studio production.
• Strong understanding of apparel photography, styling, fit, colour, proportion, model imagery, off-figure presentation, and digital shelf image requirements.
• Ability to work quickly and accurately across high SKU volumes while maintaining quality and consistency.
• Strong Adobe Creative Suite skills; comfort reviewing retouching, cropping, layout, and production-ready image assets.
• Experience collaborating with photographers, stylists, producers, retouchers, project managers, and client stakeholders.
• Good eye for detail, product representation, image accuracy, visual hierarchy, and category consistency.
• Retail, marketplace, Walmart, mass merchant, apparel brand, agency, or production studio experience is a strong asset.

AI, Workflow and Technology Expectations

• Comfort using AI-assisted workflows for image exploration, reference development, derivative concepts, background ideas, cropping checks, or production efficiency.
• Ability to provide practical creative guidance to AI/image tools while ensuring outputs remain brand-safe, product-accurate, and human-reviewed.
• Experience with Content Factori, Adobe Firefly, generative image tools, image masking/background tools, DAM workflows, or eCommerce automation platforms is an asset.
• Must understand that AI accelerates repeatable work; final decisions on product accuracy, styling, colour, model fit, and visual quality remain human-owned.

Ideal Candidate Profile

• Fashion-aware but production-minded; able to balance creative quality with speed, cost, and operational reality.
• Calm under volume pressure and comfortable making clear decisions with incomplete or evolving information.
• Collaborative, detail-oriented, and able to give concise direction to studio and post-production teams.
• Curious about AI and new production models without compromising brand, product, or quality standards.

Success Measures

• Consistent apparel imagery across categories, models, colourways, and asset types.
• Reduced creative ambiguity before shoots and fewer avoidable rework cycles after production.
• Fast, clear visual direction that supports high-volume throughput and Walmart.ca readiness.
• Effective integration of AI-assisted creative tools into practical production workflows.

Benefits at SJC:

SJC is committed to the well-being and professional development of its employees. Our employee benefit includes:

• Exclusive employee subscription rates for SJC publications.
• A complimentary 1-year Toronto Life Insider membership.
• Discounted annual GoodLife membership.
• Participation in the Perkopolis Perk Program, offering employee pricing at a wide range of retailers.

A Workplace Built for Everyone:

SJC Values

• Amaze our customers: We put our customers’ evolving needs at the heart of the business and inspire through our ideas, quality and service.
• Be relentlessly curious: We take the initiative to learn, try new things and brainstorm the next big idea.
• Respect every individual as equal: We value diversity as the means to creativity and cultivate a collaborative environment where everyone belongs.
• Innovate and adapt with urgency: Forward-thinking and flexible, we react quickly and boldly to change.
• Contribute to our community: We apply our resources and passions to make a difference – for people and our planet

Accommodations at SJC

SJC is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, where everyone feels welcome and has the opportunity to thrive. We're committed to creating inclusive and barrier-free recruitment processes and work environments. If you're contacted for an interview and require any accommodations to ensure a fair and equitable experience, please let our Human Resources team know. We'll handle any information you share with complete confidentiality.

Inclusion at SJC

Equality and respect for all is one of our founding values and core beliefs at SJC. We are a diverse group with associates of all ages, orientations, races and talents. We celebrate this diversity and we draw strength from it. Inclusivity at SJC means fostering a culture that welcomes and respects each individual as equal – both inside our walls and within the larger community.